Shara's Spring 2015

Winter 2015

A lot has been happening around here, much of it giving me a good excuse for slacking in updates. This whole year has been pretty bad about updating, but I don't think I've ever gone two months before. So here's what's been going on. The biggest change is Alan moved into an apartment. It's fairly close and he sees Shara almost daily and has her for an overnight weekly. We try to have a family event each week, though he's only been gone just over 2 weeks. We also see each other at church on Sundays. Shara seems to be doing well and knows her parents love her very much. The biggest change is not having Alan at dinner and him not saying good night in person.

Shara's still doing hip hop at dance and started rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz, which she auditioned for and was thrilled to join the cast. Here's a photo:

Shara's the one with the orange flower, standing in front of the wizard?

Tuesday (2/24) we tried the new Lebanese restaurant that opened very close to us. Shara had what was supposed to be a lamb shawarama salad w/ hummus & tabouleh. There was just some shredded lamb on a nice salad but no hummus or tabouleh. I got the falafel salad plate, and that was very good. So good that Shara ate that instead. Alan got the mixed grill shish kabob.

Sunday, 2/22 we had a special event at church. Don't Forget Us, Pet Us came to show us some of their rescue animals. It was a very nice time and some of the kids commented it was the best church day ever.

Saturday 2/21 a group of us went to Taza Chocolate for a tour and way too much chocolate! The tour was so interesting, especially because I've been playing with the food mill and hearing about the stone ground chocolate process was made me wonder what it would be like to grind chocolate at home.

Here's a selfie of us with our hair nets - very attractive!

The rest of the week was pretty mundane. I spend much time getting ready for the stewardship gathering - cooking & freezing, straightening, etc. Shara spent both Friday & Saturday night with Alan. Auntie Chrissy went over and they made pizza and had a sleepover then on Sunday Shara went to Hannah's birthday party, which was a trip to the mall and build a bear. She had a great time, of course! Then Shara got sick with the same respiratory virus a lot of people seem to be getting. Alan took her to the doctors and she had an inhaler for 3 days and was already better that night. She went to the Oz rehearsal and back to school the next day, which was the Stewardship Gathering. Shara stole the show - an interpretation to a reading of "The Hungry Caterpillar". She was great. I was very impressed with her facial expressions showing the caterpillar eating and the use of construction paper to fashion the caterpillar legs was quite ingenious.
Friday evening Kat came over for dinner and an evening Shara-sitting. Shara made them both burgers and they watched "Once Upon a Time". Kat fell asleep on the couch and in general they had a lovely evening.

Awesome Cake

Shara's cake was amazing. She needed a little help with frosting it - the cake was a bit crumbly where it was cut for the shape, but other than that, she did it on her own!

Birthday Cake

Tomorrow we're going to Alan's parents for supper & cake for Alan's birthday on Monday. Shara made the cake and frosting. Tomorrow she's cutting it and frosting it. She found the recipe in a cookbook she got at school - it's a cat cake. It's supposed to look something like this:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hitveF8gI9U/TCabkgbOHzI/AAAAAAAAAPA/hiQXmzH5GQs/s1600/P1030811.JPG

She got home from school today, called me at work and asked if she could make the frosting. She never used beaters before so she found a video on line showing how to use them. I had gotten the butter out for her this morning so she was ok with that and she just made it. I got home and she was cleaning up. She needed help getting the frosting all out of the bowl into the container, but she did it all really.

I'll take pictures to share.

Here's where she made the cake the other day:

Birthday Weekend - Big 10!

Lovely weekend full of screaming, laughing, silly dancing, and singing. It all started Friday evening when 5 of Shara's best buddies came for a sleepover. They all lasted the whole night but hardly had any sleep. The evening began with getting sleeping bags, etc. set up, some random dancing and singing and silliness, then moved into makeovers.

After getting dolled up, they had dinner - pizza, wings, celery, hummus. Many went for the hot stuff - the buffalo chicken pizza was a hit. Then presents, which was a kids only event!, in Shara's room. Back to the dining room for cake & ice cream, then downstairs to watch a movie. Mom's advice was taken and they got into jammies & brushed teeth before starting the movie. They couldn't settle down enough to watch anything and were getting pretty tired, so came back upstairs and went in to "bed". They gabbed for hours and finally slept a bit around midnight, but had episodes of ups and downs with sound sleep sometime near 2 am.

They were all up and raring to go at 7:30 am. All ate a hardy breakfast - chocolate chip pancakes w/ whipped cream, maple syrup, and lots of strawberries & nectarines. Then 2 had to leave. Time to really get ready for the rest of the day. One other girl had to leave before we went to the Old Tyme Field Day at the library.


It was fun. The mini-golf was very cute and we looked all over the Queset house and played a bit at the library. Then back home and a little pool time before ending the big 10 party!

Original plan was to go out for Shara's birthday dinner at her favorite, Asia Sushi Grill, but she was so wiped we got takeout from Hayashi, and it was very good, of course. Then she could barely get herself into bed, let alone out of her bathing suit & bathrobe and fell asleep until her mother woke her up the next morning to go strawberry picking. She didn't want to go picking but didn't want mommy to go either so the compromise was Shara would come with me and stay in the car. Obviously when we got there she came with me and after a while stopped complaining and we had a pretty good time, though not many berries to be had. Lunch at the farm, quick stop at the market, then a little more pool time while mommy hulled the strawberries. Then over to Oma & Jidor's for another birthday dinner - phew!

Daddy's 50th Surprise Party

We have almost no photos but very good memories. This was all Shara's idea - having a surprise party. I wasn't sure we could pull it off but we did and Alan had no clue. We arranged for Oma, Jidor & Auntie Chris to come over for cake after church. Then Shara would take daddy out for lunch. We figured somewhere sit-down so we'd have a descent amount of time to get set up, but without the help of John & Maggie (and also Hannah!), and then Pat and anyone else I could bark orders to, we'd never have been in place when they came home. And they didn't call like they were supposed to, so it was a real surprise for us when Shara comes in, runs downstairs and calls, "we're home! we're here!". And just a minute before they start coming down, the phone rings and it's a friend of Shara's and I couldn't hang up on a little girl! so I missed Alan's expression but he was very surprised.

This is the best photo we have!

It was nice having friends and family come together when they wouldn't normally have a chance to meet each other. Next time I'd like to have more people - I don't like having limits! I want everyone to join in the fun - and if we had planned better, could have asked the NY family to come too. Oh well, ideas for improvement are always good.

Cosmic Birthday

Fun (and easy) 9th birthday today. A local bowling alley does "Cosmic Bowling". It was a nice group of ten girls, most from Shara's class, who came. What a great age - they pretty much took care of themselves. Shara & Keira took the first kid to arrive, up to get shoes. Then as the other kids came, they keep adding the new girl to the pack up to the shoe counter. Alan helped get them set up with the lanes and learn how the scoring worked. After a game we took a break for some pizza, which was order and paid for online, and delivered right to the bowling lanes. Then more playing and two hours goes by really quickly - the one group who got started early finished their first before lunch and then started another after lunch. The other group, which ended up being a little bigger, didn't finish until right before cake. And cake was eaten while Shara opened presents because we had about 20 minutes left before the official end of the party!

The kids were really cute and had fun bowling (a lot of fun bowling), dancing, and really just hanging out with each other. It looked like a good chunk of the time was sitting around the ball return, rolling the balls back and forth to each other.

Birthday - real & friends

Shara and I had a couple of fun days together. They were pretty relaxing, but also spent getting ready for her friend birthday party - a sleepover! So Thursday, her real birthday, we went to Trucchis to get the colored popcorn and other shopping for the party. We also took our time because it was so hot and couldn't really move too fast. After we got the shopping done, we had some lunch and went out to play in the pool. We were in it for a good couple of hours and it was fun. Shara also wanted to play on the Wii for her birthday but we didn't really have time because we didn't rush through everything. It was just a relaxing day spent together. For dinner, we went to her currently favorite sushi place and we got a boat - I think we all ate about the same amount! Then over to Best Buy to pick up the new blue-ray player, since we were going to have a movie sleepover and really needed a reliable player. The craft store didn't have what we were looking for but it was still fun to look around and we did end up getting a couple of things, including the goodie bags. On the way home we stopped at Flint Farms for ice cream, of course. Shara ate a few bites - too much sushi! I wish I had a dime for every time she said, "but I'm the birthday girl" or "it's my birthday, I don't have to..." Luckily she said it in good humor.

The next day was the day to prep for the party, since people were expected at 6 PM. What a big help Shara was. It was a good time for us to work together - Shara packed the popcorn and got the goodie bags together. The Amazon order with some of the treats came as the last of the girls left, but we did get some cute nail polish and pretty crazy, but disgusting tasting, popcorn. I frosted the cupcakes and got the toppings for the pizzas together and Shara cleaned her room, picked up all her things around the house, and put her clothes away. She also helped me put up the rainbow room decoration - that was cool - crepe paper streamer thing that hung to each corner of the room.

By the time the first kids arrived, the house was a balmy 90 F. The storms were also approaching, but it was all fine. After everyone got here they found seats at the table and made pita pizzas. I got a great tip from another site saying they wrote the kids' names in edible marker on the crust. I used it to write on the strip of parchment paper that lined the baking sheets and it worked out beautifully. Alan was a huge help as well, of course. There was a lot of running back and forth, getting toppings to everyone, drinks, etc. When I started thinking of it as a restaurant where we were the wait staff, it was easier.


When pizza time was done, they went downstairs and danced while we got everything set up for cake. They came back up, all in pajamas! After cake, I had an allergic reaction to something in the air and Alan had to supervise present opening while I found some allergy medicine and blew my nose, etc. When I came downstairs, there was Shara, with each kid 2" away from her in a circle, while she opened the presents. Crazy! Since I'm the mean one, I had them all sit back, give some space and let everyone see what was going on. She got very nice things - popular presents include anything Orbeez, a couple of nice games, makeup, a couple of gift certificates, and a mood ring! 

Then came the movie - Wizard of Oz. There was a bit of a disagreement between which version would be watched. Shara really wanted the original and a couple of others wanted the Muppets. The ones who didn't want to watch the original were free to go play a boardgame in the game room or Shara's room. It actually worked out fine and in the end, they all finished the movie together, eating yucky, too sweet popcorn. It was funny seeing how they all worked out sharing the bathroom for brushing teeth and washing hands (before & after eating). They had no problem with four girls sharing the sink and moving over while one had to spit. They also were just as silly as boys, as far as body noises, etc. That was a little surprising to me, but funny. What some had a hard time doing was getting comfortable. There were four who couldn't get to sleep - Shara being one of them. She ended up sleeping on the couch, me on the floor (good thing for mattress pads), another one on the futon, a third in Shara's bed, and the fourth went home. And everyone slept until about 7 AM, with the last one getting woken up by the rest at 8 AM.

We had a nice family breakfast of pancakes and different fruits. The girls enjoyed just talking about what they were eating and various conversations kids have - they also talked a bit about school next year and who had what teacher and at what school. It sounds like they're really mixing everyone up. No more than two or three kids from the same school in the same new classroom (it seems). They all got picked up and a couple (3 actually) had to make return trips to get what they forgot the first time around. The house is hardly a mess - but while I was laying on the floor, trying to go to sleep but not able to because they wouldn't stop talking or fussing, I vowed not to do this again. But then when everyone was sitting and being so cute during breakfast, I had to rethink all of that. We'll definitely do a movie night/sleepover again. Without combining the dinner, cake and presents, I think it will be much more manageable.

Recital 2012

Obviously Shara did great. They all did. She had 4 dances and 4 costume changes - Tap > Ballet > Jazz > Ballet. We were both glad I went back and helped her get changed after each dance. She could have done it herself, but it's pretty stressful when you're working out of bags.
View the terrible quality videos taken during rehearsal
Tap - Mean
Ballet - Nutcracker
Ballet - Never Grow Up

After the recital we all had a nice visit and family birthday party for Shara. We had her new favorite cake, Chocolate Cake with Caramel Buttercream and Caramelized Bacon

She is now watching the Never-ending Story, from Auntie Chrissy, and putting on nail polish from Oma. She also got into the pool with her crazy cousin Lizzy, but when her lips turned blue, mean mommy made her come out. All in all, it was a very lovely weekend of dance.

Last night we had tickets to the night of African Drums and Dance at Messiah Baptist Church in Brockton. I don't remember the names of the performers, but it started with a man playing an instrument made of a gourd and strings of shells. Then people did a traditional harvest dance and reenacted breaking bush, which depicts the time children spend in the wilderness with teachers/guides then come back to their families, a coming of age process. Then other percussion playing and dancing. They also had a woman and girl from RI perform a liturgical dance that was interesting. It was not easy to see everything, but still enjoyable.

For dinner we had calla, fried dough w/cinnamon sugar; plantains that were amazing; a spinach and chicken dish; a couple of rice dishes; and what we believe was a fish and rice dish with tomato based sauce. It was all greasy goodness. Linda did the cooking and the MC was a man whose name I cannot remember but spoke with several times at the fishbowl conversations. I told him last night I didn't realize how funny he was! He did a great job vamping with Liberian history and other interesting cultural facts about Africa. The room was full and there were about 7 or 8 First Parrish people there.

Bubbe's Birthday

Yesterday we had a great day with family. We got to spend the trip to Bubbe's with Lizzy and then visited with Susan's family and the Lookers. Shara was really funny with the card for Bubbe. The other night we went to Borders to get her present and Shara found a candle she really liked - it had a sticker of a cupcake on top. She got that and then found a card to go with it - a birthday card and it had a cupcake on the front and said something like, "how old are you? well candlelight is very forgiving". They went together prefectly and when it became the family card, she wasn't too happy. I signed it first, then Alan and Shara signed it, "from Shara, the real person who gave the card" - mom, please comment on this post with the actual wording she used. It was so cute, I don't want to forget it!

pre-party lunch from Bella Napoli

Nice picture Shara took of Liz & Sam

Busiest time of year

Shara had her magical party on saturday. She had a great time! Mike Bent did the show and he was so much fun. Everyone was rolling and he involved all the kids with the tricks. Since she was the birthday girl, she got to be the assistant with several. She was quite the little ham. I also love seeing her belly laugh, which doesn't happen often. The rest of the party was fine too. The kids decorated cupcakes and then ran around a bit before watching shara open her very nice presents and getting picked up. In the evening we relaxed with more pizza and Nanny MacPhee Returns. Very enjoyable and relaxing, especially since Alan got the "party rooms" cleaned!

Real Birthdays

The next day, before going to Aunt Jill's for Father's Day, Shara lost another tooth! What a nice time we had visiting with family. Grandpa and Nonni were there, and so was Aunt Susan and almost the whole family, who we haven't seen in at least 2 1/2 years - Jimmy, Billy, Jenn & Holly, Katie and her sweet little boy Christopher, Danny, and Annie's children Angel and Rosie. Even Rickie called to say hello. Jill invited Anne and Sid and it was obvious that dad appreciated their coming too. Shara had a fun time with all the kids and seemed to feel like the big cousin. She also showed me the pigs and we watched the chickens for a bit as well as getting a little tour of the garden. We took back quite a bit of yummy bounty - bok choy (3 kinds!), broccoli rabbe (excellent and not at all bitter), and lamb's quarters (haven't tried it yet). Along with the bag of veggies, we also brought back Liz. Despite the traffic, we had a great time playing with Shara's United States trivia cards and then Alan and Liz played Word-friends against each other (yes in the same car, but over the air) and Liz teamed up with Shara and the two of them did very well. Shara finally fell asleep on the way to our house, about 10 minutes after leaving Liz's. But it was still too much for her and the next evening, after a miserable evening, went to bed at 7 PM. Not soon enough!


However, it was the best thing because today she woke up happy on her real birthday and last day of school! She really had a fun-filled day. The school lunch was fruit loops fun lunch but she opted for a homemade one - leftover broccoli rabbe w/ garlic & leftover chocolate raspberry cake. I thought that was a good choice. Then I got to be her special birthday guest and came in to read "Oh Say Can You Say" to the class and was able to hear her whole class sing to her. It was very cute. She had a special birthday crown she wore for the story too. What a nice class she was in. She's sad school is over for the year, but very excited that she has changed so much. She got out her September journal and her June journal and had Alan and me read a page from each and it is amazing the difference. She went from an almost non-reader to me having to tell her not to read the very adult book on my nightstand!

When she came home, we read the birthday cards from her class and she finally got her root beer that she's been waiting for since Saturday! We then went out for sushi and she had her usual Idaho maki (sweet potato tempura), but also had some edamame, miso soup, salmon sushi, a piece of spicy Rose roll - spicy tuna w/ eel & tobiko on top? some complicated special. She really liked the tobiko and ate just that off another piece.

6 Year Old Birthday Party

Shara wanted a repeat of her party two years ago - a big open house with her friends, our friends, and family. It was fun but chaotic. I found it hard to focus on the kids, and they could have used some more formal activities because the kids weren't all good enough friends to play together without more direction. All in all, they had a good time, but I felt the need to rush cake a little. Shara had the most fun with her family but did like her friends there too. The next day she told me she loved her party. She got several Zhu Zhu pets and accessories and some great crafty type activity kits. She has plenty to keep her busy for several rainy days.

Tina's has been working out great. Shara is excited to go there in the morning and really likes playing with Stella. She doesn't seem to miss school but has commented that Mrs. Goldstein is a great teacher and Mrs. Cordeira should be invited to next year's birthday party. Shara wants it to be a Dr. Seuss theme and everyone will bring their favorite book. Mrs. Cordeira has lots of Dr. Seuss books so she'd probably like to come.

Alan bought Shara swimmys for the pool and they're working out perfectly. She's been going around the whole perimeter - Alan follows either in front or behind, but she does it all on her own. I'm guessing she'll be really swimming in no time.

Today we went to target to return some shoes and bathing suits. We found some very cute replacements for the bathing suits and Shara helped me pick one out for myself too. We had a very fun time. When we got in the car from Tina's Shara said she wanted to go home but I said we had planned on going to Target and she said she wanted to come with me this morning. She said she just wanted to spend some time with me which I loved. I told her that sounded great to me too and we can do it at Target. It really was one of the better times we've had there together. We finished the trip with mocha frappaccinos on the way home. Then Alan came home. I started dinner and thought it was too nice a day not to join the two of them in the pool so I did and we all had fun racing around. Shara has started eating dinner with us at the table again. Our seats have changed - she's at the head and Alan is on her left and I'm on her right. This is such a nice setup because now we can all see each other and are more together around the table. We've been having a great summer so far!

cookies

last weekend (Dec. 4th) we had a busy time. Saturday we went to a really fun bday party and Shara participated with the other kids! she had fun with volleying a balloon for a long time. then went with the others and played with the parachute. i was very proud of her. the rest of the afternoon we spent making spritz cookies. i learned that if i leave shara to herself to decorate her tray and move on with the rest of mine and let her take her time while i speed along. We were very happy with how that worked and hers look great.

Recital & Family Party

I'm so proud of Shara. She had a great time at her recital. Aunt Jill, Auntie Chris, Shara, and I went to the school early so the aunts could save seats for the others. Shara did go dressed so when we got to the cafeteria, there wasn't that much to do other than get her taps on. There were only a couple moms helping, so it was a little chaotic until all got settled. Shara wanted me to stay with her, so I did. I didn't like it because I felt in the way, but it ended up being a good thing because I could help dole out the snacks, of which there were many. So the kids ate and went to the bathroom, and then it was time to line up! They did and Shara knew I was going to go into the theater when she got lined up, so there is when we parted company. She was the line leader and after a few other dances, on she came! She was so cute. Our seats were pretty far to the left, so she did disappear for a bit, but we'll get the DVD. They did great! This year the show was very organized and all seemed to go much smoother than last year and the quality was also much better. Before we knew it, it was over! I watched one more dance and headed back to change her into her ballet shoes. When I got there, Liz (Anna's mom), was helping to change Shara. I didn't realize it would be so quick! So we got her changed and Shara told me, "you can leave now." so I did! Then on they came for the pre-school finale. Very cute. Shara also decided she wanted to be in the big finale, even if she was the only one from her class, so later in the show we went back and Alisha, one of the pre-school class helpers, found a spot for her. Taylor, also from Shara's class was going to be in the finale along with her big sister, so Shara stayed with them backstage and went out with them. I left as soon as she was settled with the big kids and she was fine. She was also the line leader for the finale. I asked her later if they told her when to go and she said no, she just went. Then she stayed and clapped along with the big kids. I was very proud of her for being a big kid too. Another big kid thing for the whole day was that duckie & giraffe got left at home and no one noticed. Shara later said she saw them but decided not to bring them. I'm not sure if that was really so, but they weren't missed!

Later we went home and had the family party. Shara got a big girl bike from Auntie Chris, Oma & Jidor. It's really cute - a pink John Deere and she gets to decorate the spokes with stars! She also got a couple of very pretty, pink dresses from Aunt Jill & Bubbe, and a cool spin-art kit that I can't wait to do and a picture frame for her school pictures, which will soon start to get filled! We gave her the scooter, which she's been wanting every since she saw one at the Village Toy Store and especially since she started watching "My Friends Tigger & Pooh". So it was a great day and the festivities continue today with her real birthday and Father's Day.

Movie Time!

5 Year Bday Party Highlights

Well after all that it's over! Everyone had a great time. I found out why so many parties are held at other locations. These kids have so much energy! I was very happy we have such a good space for them to all run around. They were great and so were the parents. The face painter was amazing. I'm thinking of having Shara take a vacation class/workshop (during the school year). The studio's just down the street from my work. I could take Shara to work with me, go drop her off at the studio, then pick her back up to finish the day with me. We'll see. Her name is Kara and the studio is Art on the Spot.

Shara got some great presents and the food was almost completely gone - a great thing. I heard the cake had the wow factor. One sad spot, which Shara said she would like to not remember, was when her, Molly and Julia were playing in her room. Shara put moisturizer on her hand and the paint came off. Shara didn't care. She put it on Molly's hand and Molly cried and had a huge fit. Then Shara & Julia thought they'd get in trouble so hid under Alan's desk and it took a bit to find them. I didn't know what happened until after the party, but then explained (again) about accidents vs. on-purposes, etc. Other than that one thing though, it was fun for all!

5bday-2

(click for full size)

Getting ready for friends bday party

Shara and I have been planning for quite some time for today's party. Yesterday we decorated the cake. I'm putting up a pic here because I know no one who is going to be at the party today reads this blog. Boy is she excited! She said that when she woke up this morning she didn't shout, "today's my birthday" because she knew I'd be sleeping and didn't want to wake me up.

From 5bday-1

From 5bday-1

Yesterday we actually got in the pool! Alan and Shara much more than me. They went swimming. Shara went under and really didn't like it. But apparently recovered quickly and was playing again in no time. Yesterday was the last dance class - rehersal & recital! We also have her Kindergarten screening this week, so busy, busy!

We all can't wait to see everyone at the recital, but with all going on, it's one step at a time.

hmmm so much time has gone by, what's happened?

Shara has entered somewhat of a new phase - she's been wanting to have chores, so we are obliging and have made a chart. She wanted me to add listening as one of the chores, so I put it at the bottom, for the whole day. If she listens for the day - and I'm realistic here, assuming just not having a big fight is listening, she gets a sticker. This is surprising to me because she has tons of her own stickers, but i guess it's different if I give her one.

New years was fun. We braved the storm and went to the Senay's for dinner. The girls had tons of fun and played for hours with the pooping barbie dog that Hannah got for Shara. It really was cute. New years day we stayed home and relaxed, as we've been trying to do on weekends. The weather has cooperated for that. Last weekend we had shara's postponed dance party. Alan videoed the whole thing but I think we'll need to edit before posting. It was cute. Shara, and a couple of other kids, were rolling their tongue around in their mouths much of the time - nervous tic it seems. After that we came home, ate lunch and soon headed out for Jessica's birthday party at an indoor gym. That was fun too. Shara warmed up faster than she has in the past, but still didn't want to do any group activities. She was more than happy running around with the kids on her own, but as soon as it got organized, she got nervous and bowed out and stood with me instead. I didn't push. She was so proud that she did what she did, and didn't seem too unhappy about not playing the games. At the beginning, they wanted all the kids to sit on the bouncy thing that they blow up and then the kids bounce on. Shara wouldn't do it, but as soon as the kids were off checking out the foam block pit that you hang on a trapeze and then jump into (didn't want anything to do with that, no matter how many others were on it!) we took the opportunity to try the bouncy thing. She loved it and did circuits of that, to the balance beam, to the tunnel. Several kids were doing the same circuit so she felt a part of it but without pressure. Then there was a time for group pictures and she really didn't want to but after that was over, Jessica's so sweet mother asked Shara if she could get some pictures of Shara and Jessica because Jessica was so happy that Shara could come to her party. I teared up and am doing it now as I remember.

So this week we've been very happy with each other, except for yesterday morning when Shara decided it would be a good idea to try and wash her own hair, about 10 minutes before I wanted to be getting into the car. She came into my room when I called her so I could do her hair and she said she (can't remember but basically said she fixed it). I noticed it looked wet so I asked if she put water on it. She said she did. I said ok. I looked closer and asked if she put soap in it and she said no. I asked again and then touched it and it got rather foamy so I basically freaked and said we have to take a bath, I'll just wash it in the sink, I need a cup, come on, it's freezing outside, this wasn't a good day to do this, you can't go out with wet hair, you have to wear a hat... So we got her head over the sink, I started pouring the warm water over her head and she's screaming. I'm fighting her and then say, "fine go to school with soapy hair. It's probably going to itch. We'll take a bath tonight." It didn't itch and Alan gave her a bath, and all was fine. I've realized that for 4.5 years I've dreaded bath night - without good reason. I really can't stand giving Shara a bath. It's 10 minutes tops, but something about it, I just never want to do it. So the past couple of times Alan has done it and I'm more than happy doing the dishes, laundry, etc. Maybe it's time to switch that task.

She's so cute

We had a great time at Hannah's 5th bday party on Saturday. I asked Shara what her favorite part was, thinking it would be making the pizza or the chicken fingers, and she said, "playing with Sophie. She's so cute." Shara was so gentle with her. Sophie was standing, wanting to eat some cherios, and shara brushed her hand. I told Shara she could touch her and she took her hand and was so excited. She really would make a great big sister, but she'll have to settle for baby sitting when she gets bigger.

Tonight she said, "guess what we're going to do in school tomorrow? We're going to make chickens, made out of paper, for Thanksgiving! We can put it on the table and everyone will ask who made this?" Yes, she meant turkeys. But, she can count to 10 in Spanish, including 0, so give her a break. She can also spell - cat, dog, mom, dad, shara, molly, tenley, on, no, book, moon, cow, pig. I think there are others but she doesn't perform well on demand. She also says she doesn't like to read, but apparently she likes to spell. I wonder if she realizes they're related?